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Tuesday, October 23

The past 5+ weeks have been...weird. I know I'm not around here as much, and that's because life has just been different lately. I've been sick for over 5 weeks now. When we moved into our temporary apartment in the middle of September, I caught some kind of cold. It lasted for over 2 weeks, and then I had my surgery. My recovery lasted about a week, and the day after I really started to feel better, I caught what we think was a sinus infection. That lasted for another week or so, and as soon as I started to feel better, I woke up with a really sore throat and unbelievable congestion. And I'm still dealing with that. It's incredibly frustrating, and I'm hoping the end is in sight!

So life has just been different lately. Simple. We haven't done any 'blog-worthy' things on the weekends. We have been spending lots of time at home and watching a ridiculous amount of football on Saturdays and Sundays, which we love! It's actually been nice to just live a more simple life. I haven't been as attached to my computer or my phone and have been spending more time with my sweet little family. I haven't even touched my DSLR in weeks, which is so odd for me. So that's why I haven't been writing much lately.

But there is a big change coming our way! We found a new house! As y'all know, we moved out of our house last month and have been living in a little temporary apartment with our stuff in storage. We had to wait for Doug's new promotion to become official before we signed a new lease, and we were finally able to do that last Friday. So we move in tomorrow! I am SO ready to be back in a house where Maisy can run in the yard all she wants. This poor girl is ready to be off of her leash! Here's a sneak peek of our new living room!

This will be our 6th place we've lived in the past 2.5 years of being married. 1) Apartment in Covington 2) Apartment in Decatur 3) Hotel for a month in California before we moved here 4) Our last house 5) Temp apartment 6) New house!

Isn't that insane!? I'm ready for some consistency!! Also, what would y'all do with that mirror above the mantle? Any ideas? I was thinking of hanging some kind of wreath on there but would love any creative ideas!

And finally, thank y'all for sticking around here. I know my blog hasn't been as exciting or interesting lately, but hopefully once this move is out of the way, things will return to normal :)

PS- PLL HALLOWEEN EPISODE IS TONIGHT!!! They announced that someone is going to die...who do you think it is!? (That's Pretty Little Liars, for those of you who haven't caught on to this addictive show yet) My TV shows have been blowing me away this season, especially Dexter and The Walking Dead...I may have to dedicate a whole post to it soon!

Thursday, October 18

Today is a very special day. My Mamaw and Pawpaw, two of my very favorite people in the whole world, have been married for 60 years!!!! They are truly the cutest couple I've ever seen, and I've always admired the love they have for each other. In the magazine I made for Mamaw for her 80th birthday last year, I had Pawpaw write their love story. It's a good one :)

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I first became aware of the future love of my life on a cloudy day in the late spring of 1951 when I was on military maneuvers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One day my best friend, Eldon, and I were having a discussion on how to solve the problems of the world and for some reason, he showed me a picture of his sister who, at the time, was a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. From that moment on, I had a mission (which was completed on October 18th, 1952.) It was truly love at first sight for me.

I wrote to her right away and we corresponded for about a year. I finally met Helen Ann face to face about a year later when she, along with several family members, paid a visit to her brother at Fort Bragg. I had thought all along that I was falling in love with her through our writings and that thought became instantly cemented when we finally got together during this visit.

Then, a few weeks later, we met one more time when Helen Ann, her sister Carol, and a friend travelled by train to Roanoke, Virginia to meet with me and Eldon for a long weekend visit.

After this visit, I immediately wrote Helen telling her how much "I was in love with her and asking that if she loved me as well- then let's get married." Of course I followed up with a phone call and received the best news of my life- she said YES! We were married just a few weeks later.

Thereafter Helen Ann has been the one who has shared my name, and always added luster to the same. The one who has shared my joys and cheers me when sad. Simply put, the best friend I ever had!!!!! My love for her has remained unyielding and unabated since that time. We had two favorite songs back then (“Till the End of Time” and “How Deep is the Ocean, How High is the Sky” and they said and still say it all for me. The lyrics from both songs were just perfect and I quote from– “How deep is the ocean – how high is the sky”

How much do I love you? I’ll tell you no lie.

How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?

How many times a day do I think of you?

How many roses are sprinkled with dew?

How far would I travel just to be where you are?

How far is the journey from here to a star?

If I ever lost you, how much would I cry?

How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?

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Mamaw and Pawpaw, we love you and miss you so much. We wish we were there to celebrate this huge occasion with you! Happy Anniversary!!!

Tuesday, October 16

I think it's time for another post dedicated to my sweet babies. Diego is in love with Maisy. He also terrorizes her, but she is the sweetest thing and puts up with it! Lately, he has been wrapping himself around her head and alternates between biting and licking her face. See video below :)

Wednesday, October 10

-The winner of the Blog2Print giveaway is Miranda! Congratulations! I had so much fun doing a giveaway and it makes me want to do more. So if you didn't win this one, you're in luck because I'll be hosting another Blog2Print giveaway in about a month!

-Thank y'all for the concern about my surgery! The surgery was very successful, the recovery was kind of difficult, and I am feeling a lot better today. My nose is still really swollen but I can already tell a huge difference in being able to breathe!

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Over the past month, I've been lucky enough to meet/see some of my very favorite blog friends! Well now, they are real life friends. Soon after we moved out of our house, I flew to Indianapolis for a girls weekend with Brittany and Emma. I met these two before during my trip to Cincinnati, and it was love at first sight. We had the most relaxing weekend full of girl talk, cupcakes, and Glee. Perfection.

Thanks for the picture, Emma!

While I was in Indy, I just had to meet up with Katie! This girl is such a sweetie and I loved chatting over lunch with her. Katie is one of the few people I've met who I believe loves her dogs as much as I love Maisy...which as y'all know, is no easy feat. So obviously, we talked about our precious dogs for half of our lunch. Again, perfection :)

And then last week, Michaela moved into town! We have been discussing this day for what seems like a really long time, so I was thrilled to finally meet her! We met up at The Grove (my favorite place in LA) and grabbed dinner at the Farmer's Market.

Afterwards, we walked around and went into a few stores and ran into her roommate in Anthropologie. (I'm going somewhere with this...) We said bye, walked around to a few more stores, and then went back to Michaela's apartment. Well, her roommate gets back about 10 minutes after us and tells us that SHE MET SHAY MITCHELL FROM PRETTY LITTLE LIARS!!! Y'all, this is one of my favorite shows EVER and I literally missed meeting her by 10 minutes. I don't think I'll ever quite get over this!

Photos: Michaela Noelle Designs

Isn't it amazing that blogging can form real life friendships? It's like online dating for friends! (That sounds much weirder than I intended!)

Monday, October 8

(I'm on lots of different medications right now (because of my surgery), so my apologies if my writing comes across a little loopy...pain pills are a glorious thing :)

Doug, since I'm on all of these meds and can't drive anywhere, this is serving as my birthday card to you!

Thank you for being so smart. You are incredible at your job and make me one proud, braggy wife!

Thank you for braving the crazy Santa Ana winds and climbing on the roof to put up Christmas lights. As soon as we find another house here, you know I'll most likely make you do it again :) You've been warned!

Thank you for reminding me to not take life too seriously.

Thank you for being (almost) as competitive as me. It makes life FUN. And I'm sorry for being an obnoxious winner...I just can't help it that I'm so good at everything ;)

I'm Daisy, he's Loser...obviously :)

Thank you for putting up with my need to dress our pets as often as possible.

Thank you for taking me to Vegas twice. But I'm pretty sure you never want to take me again....reconsider that, won't ya? I promise I'll win money this time! :)

Thank you for taking me on this crazy California adventure. If it weren't for you, I never would have left Georgia. As much as I miss it, I'm glad we are experiencing this great state together!

At The Grove in LA

Thank you for not running for the hills when I threw Pep a 1st birthday party. Mamaw said "we'll never see that boy again!" but you somehow proved us all wrong! And thank you for bringing him a gift...that's how I knew you were a keeper!

Pep's 1st birthday, May 2008

And finally, THANK YOU for being such an incredible fur-dad to our little babies. This is by far my favorite thing about you. It makes me SO EXCITED to see you with our human babies one day. I just know you'll be the best dad :)

Tuesday, October 2

Well, I'm having surgery (again) today. I haven't talked about it on here in a while, as it's been almost 2 years since my last surgery, but unfortunately, my nose is still all kinds of screwed up. I've talked about it a little in the past here and here, but here's a quick overview of the issues I've had with it.

I've never been able to breathe normally. I have/had vasomotor rhinitis, which is "a condition that involves a constant runny nose, sneezing, and nasal stuffiness, which is not caused by an allergy or infection. The cause is unknown." It's basically a hyper-sensitive nose.

The one thing that my last surgery fixed (for the most part) is this. My main trigger was always water- if I swam, washed my face, or had water anywhere near my nose- I sneezed like a crazy person (like 40 times in a row). It was intense. So my ENT reduced my enlarged turbinates and that really seemed to help. I still have the symptoms occasionally, but it is MUCH better than it used to be. Cold weather is probably the main trigger now.

But my other issue is a deviated septum. This will be my 3rd surgery on my nose, and it is still completely crooked. The first surgeon made it even worse, the second surgeon fixed it temporarily but it eventually moved back, and I'm hoping this is the last time I'll have to do this. I found a really great ENT out here, and he is the first person to suggest that I have a CAT scan. Well, he was stunned by the results. He actually said "I don't know how you're able to breathe at all- your septum looks like it's about to collapse." He told me that my septum looks like an 'S' because it leans to the left in the front, but curves and leans to the right in the back of my nose, so it's really blocking both sides. THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!

I am so tired of having these surgeries and not being able to breathe, so I'm hoping and praying that this surgery is a success and I can put it all behind me!

Monday, October 1

Today is y'all's lucky day! Remember my post from last week about my blog book? Well, the wonderful people at Blog2Print have decided to give one of y'all a $35 gift certificate for their site!

Blog2Print has the easiest process to make your own book. It uploads everything for you! It really doesn't get much easier than that. Plus, the results are amazing. I couldn't be happier with how mine turned out, and I'm sure you'll feel the same way!

I'm trying out this new format for giveaways, I've heard it's much easier! Enter below to win $35 credit for Blog2Print! I'll announce the winner in a week. *Blog2Print offers international shipping, so ANYONE is eligible to enter!*